London Calling

London Calling, released by The Clash in December 1979 on CBS Records in the UK (and January 1980 via Epic in the US), marked the band's decisive break from strict punk orthodoxy. Recorded over roughly five to six weeks at Wessex Sound Studios with producer Guy Stevens, the double album folded in reggae, ska, rockabilly, jazz, and soul alongside rock, arriving after a period of management upheaval and songwriting drought for Joe Strummer and Mick Jones.^[2]

The album reached number 9 on the UK charts and number 27 in the US, and went on to platinum certification in America. It is now widely regarded as one of the greatest rock albums ever made; Rolling Stone later named it the best album of the 1980s. Track nine, "The Guns of Brixton," stands out as the record's first fully reggae composition and the first Clash song written and sung by bassist Paul Simonon.

The title track, released as a single a week before the album, borrowed the BBC World Service station identification for an emergency-broadcast style warning about floods, nuclear accidents and social decay, and it ends in a guitar-played Morse code distress signal.^[1] The sleeve, designed by Ray Lowry, echoed the look of old Columbia 78 rpm covers.^[1]